


Put back together again

by Beleriandings



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Found Family, Gen, Parental-ish relationships, Post-Promised Day, Recovery and healing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2016-08-23
Packaged: 2018-08-10 15:51:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7851412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beleriandings/pseuds/Beleriandings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Izumi and Sig visit the Elrics in hospital.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Put back together again

Izumi held Sig’s hand as the nurse led them along the hospital corridor, their shoes squeaking against the linoleum in a way that set her teeth on edge. The smell of disinfectant burned familiar at the back of her throat, reminding her unwillingly, once more, of all the doctors she had been to, in those years _after_. Not that any of it had helped much. It had been a dark time, those years seeking relief from the taste of blood in her mouth and the pain and the weakness that had come with it, all overhung with the knowledge that she only had herself to blame. 

She felt Sig turn to her, squeezing her hand just a little. He understood, she knew. He must know what she was thinking, as he had been there at her side the entire way.

She squeezed his hand back, taking it in both of hers and giving him a reassuring smile when he turned to meet her gaze. 

For that was all past; though she would never be quite whole, she was as healed as she would ever be, now. 

And besides, today they were here with someone else in mind. 

“Mr and Mrs Curtis?” The nurse had stopped outside a door. “We’re here.“

The room was bright and airy, larger than the room Izumi had herself been confined to after the battle, and larger still than all those curtained doctors’ examination rooms she had been in and out of before despairing of the medical profession’s ability to help her, all those years ago. There was a window dominating the far wall, with a blind rolled halfway up and the sash open a crack, to let in some light and air. There were also two beds, with two figures lying beneath mint-green hospital blankets, the buttery sunlight catching on two golden-haired heads. 

Izumi let out her breath, quietly. “They’re asleep” she whispered to Sig. “Maybe we should come back…”

“Teacher? Mr Sig?”

She looked up as one of the figures stirred, and felt her heart leap. “Alphonse! We didn’t mean to wake you…”

He shook his head, pushing himself effortfully up in bed. “I wasn’t really asleep… just… ah… just resting a moment.” He smiled wanly, as Sig was already at the side of his bed, helping him to sit up. Al still looked painfully thin, and though his hair had been neatly cut sometime in the days since he had returned to his body, it only served to accentuate the sharp lines of his collarbones and his scrawny shoulders. But his eyes were bright and eager, despite the dark shadows under them. “I’m not that strong yet.” He smiled fully. “But the doctors say I’m getting stronger every day!”

Izumi had trouble keeping the tears from her eyes as she went to sit in the chair by Al’s other side. “I’m glad.” She peered over at the other bed, where Ed lay, sleeping peacefully. “How’s your brother?”

Al looked a little pained. “He got pretty badly beaten up, and he had to have surgery to dig the metal fragments from the joint of his shoulder, because they were hurting him. They put him under anaesthetic for that, and he hasn’t woken up yet…” Al’s face cleared. “But he should be waking up any time now. And the doctor said he should heal right up!”

Izumi nodded. “I’m glad.”

Al turned to look between them. “What about you, though? You were in the battle too, weren’t you?”

Sig nodded, and she knew he worried for her still. “Izumi was only discharged from the hospital two days ago.”

“I’m going to be fine” she said firmly. “I wasn’t badly hurt, I just…” she tailed off, as memories came back to her; _memories of crawling souls, loosed from a Philosopher’s stone, taking the form of children and crying out to her, their pitiful voices rattling hollowly around her head for days after_ … she shook her head, concentrating on the warmth of the room, the dust dancing in the golden sunbeam. “Besides, I’m better off than I was before, actually.”

Al tilted his head, puzzled. “Oh?”

She frowned. “Oh, you didn’t know? It was a while ago, actually. Your father…” she watched Al’s face carefully, but his reaction wasn’t one of pain. “He’s a very powerful alchemist, and he… he helped me.”

Al’s eyes widened. “You mean he restored your organs? With his Philosopher’s stone?”

She shook her head. “No, not that. But he did… rearrange them to allow the blood to flow better. I’ll never be as I was before…” She smiled, sadly. “But I’m a little better. I don’t cough blood, anymore.”

Sig nodded. “We have him to thank for that, again.” 

A thought occurred to Izumi. “Is he here?” She would have liked to have seen Hohenheim, to give him her thanks again, but now that she thought about it she hadn’t seen him since the battle. She looked down at his son in consternation. “Did he come to see you?”

Al’s face fell. Slowly, he shook his head. “No. He… he left. Right after the battle. I was sleeping at the time, but he didn’t even say goodbye to brother. I don’t know why, or where he went…” 

Izumi’s heart sank, at the confusion and the prickle of pain in Al’s voice. She reached for his hand, and was just about to say something to console him, when there came a voice from behind her; scratchy, mumbling, but very familiar. “…M-Mom? That you?”

She turned and saw Ed blinking owlishly in the light, his eyes still unfocussed and hazy. 

“N-No, brother!” began Al. “It’s… it’s not…”

“It’s okay” soothed Izumi, smiling, stilling Al’s protests with a raised hand. She turned to Ed, meeting his eye. 

She opened her mouth to speak, before Ed’s eyes seemed to blur into focus, going wide with alarm. “I… I mean… Teacher!” He fumbled to sit up, wincing as he jostled his shoulder in its brace, swathed in heavy bandages. “…Sorry, I must have been… imagining things…” his voice was still a little slurred. “I’m a bit…” he gestured weakly.

“It’s _okay_ , Ed” said Izumi firmly, drawing her chair over to his bedside. She caught Sig’s eye across the bed, and he smiled encouragingly back at her, giving her strength. “Everything is going to be fine now.”

He stopped, relaxing a little, and looked back at her. His eyes were still a little unfocussed, but he seemed a little clearer now. “Yeah” he said, flexing his newly restored right hand’s fingers in front of his face, as though to check they were real. “Yeah I think it will.” 

 _Maybe that was it_ , Izumi found herself thinking, as Ed asked for a cup of water and Sig brought it, and the brothers talked, voices growing louder and laughter more frequent all the time. Sig laughed too, and shook his head, and Al reprimanded his brother as Ed joked about escaping from the hospital if the doctors didn’t let him out soon. _We’ve all been broken, and put back together; we’ve all got torn edges and places that hurt. But maybe that’s how to heal, to put yourself back together again_. 

 _Maybe it’s just a matter of carrying on; or rather, of starting out on a whole new journey_.


End file.
